US Forces sealed off entire districts of the Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, blocking bridges and raiding homes in a hunt for suspects after an attack that killed 22 a day before.Mosul’s governor issued an overnight order on television banning use of the five bridges over the River Tigris and said anyone breaking the order would be shot. Residents said Iraq’s third city was a virtual ghost town, with no one in the streets.FBI and other experts flown in from Baghdad were ‘‘in the middle of’’ determining what caused Tuesday’s explosion at the Marez base in Mosul, Lieutenant General Thomas Metz said. ‘‘If it was a bomb, I think they’ll be able to figure out the size and the kinds of materials that were put into it,’’ he told CNN.“Thirteen (13) US service members, five US civilians, three Iraqi National Guard members and one unidentified non-US person, were killed in a terrorist attack,” the military said in a statement on Wednesday.The military declined comment on an ABC television report that investigators found evidence that a suicide bomber carried out the deadliest attack on Americans since they invaded Iraq.‘‘Investigators at the base have found remnants of a torso and a suicide vest that was probably a backpack,’’ ABC said, lending weight to a claim by Iraq’s Ansar al-Sunna guerrillas.US officials initially said rocket and mortar rounds were fired but Ansar al-Sunna credited one of its ‘‘martyrs’’ and the US commander in Mosul said there was only one explosion.Two French journalists, freed after a four-month hostage ordeal, headed home for Christmas. The French government, which opposed the Iraq war, said no ransom was paid to the kidnappers of Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot. The Opposition said the government would have to explain its handling of the crisis, including why Paris’ ties with the Arab world had failed to secure the men’s freedom earlier. —Reuters
